Aecom buys out rival URS in $4 billion deal

Aecom and URS Corporation have announced an agreement under which Aecom will acquire all outstanding shares of URS for a combination of cash and stock valued at approximately $4 billion.

Including the assumption of URS debt, the total enterprise value of the transaction is approximately $6 billion.

The combined company will be a leading, fully integrated infrastructure and federal services provider with more than 95,000 employees in 150 countries.  It would have calendar year 2013 pro forma revenues of more than $19 billion and earnings before insurance tax, depreciation and amortization of approximately $1.3 billion.

Michael S. Burke, Aecom president and Chief Executive Officer, said: “This combination creates an industry leader with the ability to deliver more capabilities from a broad global platform to reach more clients in more industry end markets.

“Clients, employees and stockholders of both companies will benefit from the opportunities created by these expanded capabilities and broad global reach in key growth markets and economies.  In one step, we will dramatically accelerate our strategy of creating an integrated delivery platform with superior capabilities to design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets around the world.”

Martin M. Koffel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of URS, said: “This is a compelling strategic combination that we believe will benefit our clients, stockholders and employees.

“URS stockholders will receive significant, immediate value from the transaction and will be able to participate in the future prospects of the combined company, which we expect will be better positioned to compete for major, complex projects across a diverse range of end markets and geographic regions.”

Koffel continued, “Our two businesses are complementary, and our cultures are highly compatible.  We anticipate that employees from the combined company will benefit as the organization integrates its leadership talent and capitalizes on its greater scale to invest in its people, improve their career opportunities and advance their capacity to compete globally.”

Aecom will pay $56.31 per URS share, based on Aecom's closing price on July 11, 2014, representing a premium of 19% over the trailing 30-day average closing price of URS shares ending that day. URS stockholders will receive per share consideration equal to $33.00 in cash and 0.734 shares of Aecom common stock for each URS share.